This Little Babe

There have been lots of Christmas programmes on TV recently with recipes and decorating suggestions and gift ideas - all sorts of things to help us prepare for Christmas.

 

Several things that I've watched recently have mentioned the fact that Christmas is all about the family, but something I watched this afternoon kept repeating that Christmas is all about children.

 

However, I would suggest that this isn't quite true.  Chrstmas is not all about children.  It is all about one child.  It is all about the baby Jesus, the child of God.

 

Luke writes,

 

"There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood.  They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them.  They were terrified. The angel said, 'Don’t be afraid.  I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Saviour who is Messiah and Master.  This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.'"

 

[Luke 2:8-12 MSG]

 

A Saviour who is Messiah and Master. 

 

I always marvel at the idea that the shepherds (and later, the wise men), worshipped a baby.  I can understand someone worshipping a King, or worshipping a god.  But worshipping a baby?  The shepherds understood something about this child which we can so easily miss.

 

I love the words in this song, 'This Little Babe' by Benjamin Britten which tell of the true nature and identity of this tiny baby -

 

This little babe, so few days old

Has come to rifle satan's fold

All hell doth at his presence quake

Though he himself for cold do shake

For in this weak, unarmed wise

The gates of hell he will surprise

 

With tears he fights and wins the field

His naked breast stands for a shield

His battering shot are babish cries

His arrows looks of weeping eyes

Jesus was no ordinary baby.  He was the child of God and He was worth worshipping.

 

Christmas is all about the child.

 

 

 

Silent Night

I can't help feeling that whoever wrote the Carol 'Silent Night' didn't have children or have any friends with young children.

 

       Silent night, holy night

       All is calm, all is bright

       Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

       Holy Infant so tender and mild

       Sleep in heavenly peace

       Sleep in heavenly peace.

 

Whilst not a parent myself, I am surrounded by friends with young children, all of whom can testify that the first few weeks following the birth of their child/ren was anything but silent.

 

All was not calm.

 

They did not all sleep in heavenly peace.

 

However, I have noticed that there is a sense of calm that descends on a room when there is a baby around.  All eyes will turn towards the child, conversations will peter out and a sort of hush descends on the room. 

 

There is something calming and soothing about the presence of a baby.

 

It's the same with Jesus - both the baby and the man.  There is something calming in His presence.  When we look to Him - really look to Him - we find that the other things in our lives fade away.  The everyday busyness is stilled and we find ourselves at peace again.

 

       "You will keep in perfect peace
       all who trust in you,
       all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
       Trust in the Lord always,
       for the Lord God is the eternal Rock."

 

       [Isaiah 26:3 NLT]

 

 

When we look to Jesus and put our trust in Him, all becomes calm and we can sleep in [perfect] heavenly peace.

 

 

 

 

 

Childlike Faith

I have spent the evening with the beautiful baby daughter of two of my close friends.

 

Whenever I spend time with my friends' babies, I am reminded of how completely dependent on their parents babies are.  And of how utterly helpless they are by themselves.

 

Babies rely on their parents for food, for milk, for winding them, for changing their nappies, for attention.  They rely on them for everything.  

 

And there is a simple trust between babies and their parents.

 

Babies know that when they cry, someone - usually Mum or Dad - will attend to their needs.  Someone will come to help them and rescue them and give them whatever they need.

 

In the same way, the Bible tells us that God will always answer our cries for help and will attend to our needs; He is our Heavenly Father:

 

        "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
        he heard my cry for mercy."

 

        [Psalm 116:1 NIV]

 

However, although I know this verse and others which talk about God's provision and His parental care for us, I am aware that I often don't believe this is what He is like.

 

I don't have that simple childlike, or babylike faith which believes that Daddy God will provide all that I need.  There is something in my heart which doubts His goodness, which doubts His kindness and His ability to provide.  Perhaps this is the result of disappointed hopes and dashed dreams in the past - things which have stripped away that childlike simplicity.

 

But I want to return to that childlike faith. 

 

“I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom."

 

[Matthew 18:3-4 MSG] 

 

I want to have a simple and elemental faith again.  I want to be childlike again.

 

Verbs

To this day, I can still clearly picture and recite several irregular French verbs.  For our GCSEs, we were given a table which we had to memorise and it has remained ingrained in my mind ever since.

 

 

 Je vais

Tu vas

Il/elle va

Nous allons

Vous allez

Ils/elles vont

 

 

I have been thinking today about different verbs.  And, in particular, the difference between being and doing. 

I haven't really done much today, and that sits uncomfortably with me.  I am not very good at being and not doing. I feel guilty or lazy if I am not in action. I feel that I ought to be doing something all the time. And I think I worry about it because I still easily slip into thinking that my worth or my identity comes from what I do, not who I am.

 

 

We are human beings, but so often we identify ourselves as human doings.  We are concerned more by our actions and our roles than who we are when no one's looking and we are just still.

We fear that if we are still, we will lose sight of ourselves.

Perhaps this is why God reminded us to

“Be still, and know that I am God."

[Psalm 46:10 NIV]

My identity doesn't come from myself.  I am not defined by what I do or don't do.  I am defined by what Jesus has done and by what God says about me.  I am His child, His precious daughter [2 Corinthians 6:17].

When I am tempted to keep busy to feel better about myself, I need to stop what I am doing and remind myself of who God is and what He has done.  For that is where I find myself.

I have been listening to this song a lot lately.  It is called 'Beautiful' by MercyMe and is, as the name suggests, a beautiful song about our true identity.

The days will come when you don't have the strength

When all you hear is you're not worth anything

Wondering if you ever could be loved

And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much
You're beautiful

You're beautiful

You are made so much more than all of this

You're beautiful

You're beautiful

You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His

You're beautiful
I'm praying that you have the heart to fight

'Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight

For all the lies you've held inside so long

They are nothing in the shadow of the cross
You're beautiful

You're beautiful

You are made so much more than all of this

You're beautiful

You're beautiful

You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His